New Exhibit for Pair of Endangered California Condors Opens June 5 at World Center for Birds of Prey

26 May 2010

BOISE, Idaho – The grand opening of Condor Cliffs, a new outdoor exhibit showcasing a pair of California Condors, will be celebrated Saturday, June 5, at The Peregrine Fund's World Center for Birds of Prey. It is the only place in North America outside California where visitors can see live California Condors on display.

"This may be the best close-up view that many people will ever have of majestic California Condors," said Jack Cafferty, director of the interpretive center. "This exhibit will raise awareness about why we are working so hard to save this species for future generations."

11 a.m.: Lunch by Fuddruckers (first 200 visitors will receive a coupon for a free cheeseburger, fries and soda)

Noon: Ribbon-cutting with speakers and Boise proclamation

4 p.m. Raffle winners announced (need not be present to win)

Family-friendly activities throughout the day include tours, films, and a raffle to raise funds to support condors at the World Center for Birds of Prey (raffle items from Cabela's, REI, Sierra Trading Post, Bogus Basin, Boise Spectrum and others). Visitors will learn what it is like to be a vulture (not for the faint-hearted!) and the effects of microtrash on condors. Kids can make a condor mask and identification wing tags and engage in other art projects.

The World Center for Birds of Prey is home to the world's largest captive flock of condors. Nineteen pairs produce and rear offspring for release at The Peregrine Fund's release site in northern Arizona near the Grand Canyon. The new exhibit is designed so that the pair of condors could breed and lay an egg in the nest cave and the chick could be released to the wild.

"Seeing them in the Grand Canyon landscape is awe-inspiring," Cafferty said.

The exhibit will house two unreleasable condors, a male and a female. They were transferred to Arizona in 2006 and released in 2009, then later recaptured and sent back to Boise to join the breeding flock, said Marti Jenkins, who oversees condor propagation at the World Center for Birds of Prey.

"They were both brought in due to their poor choices in places to roost," she said. Condors are built for soaring high on thermals in the sky, not for quick lift-offs when pursued by coyotes and other predators. Attempts to condition them failed to change the behavior that made them vulnerable to predators, she explained.

The birds, which have different parents, are the same age. They are identified by the numbers on their wing tags: